


A Shot In The Dark

by audino



Category: Homestuck
Genre: F/F, Grandpa Harley - Freeform, bloody??, ki nda, mermaid au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-16
Updated: 2013-04-16
Packaged: 2017-12-08 15:36:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,768
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/763042
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/audino/pseuds/audino
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She rumbled at the mysterious shadows, heart racing, fingers light on the trigger of her Remington, hoping to dear god that her Grandpa's advice of "Always carry a rifle with you at all times!" would finally help her. Maybe her search through the woods had been fruitless so far, but now she was determined. She'd find the creature tonight, no matter what.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Shot In The Dark

The light was low, the moon hung high on its' mantle, and the stars crowded all around the sky like little pinpoints scattered all across the outer space that blanketed the world above. It was surely deep into the velvety caress of night, and yet one adventurer dove into the depth of the dark as fearlessly as if a thousand rays of sunlight gleamed off her back as her radiant emissaries through the convoluted mess of a jungle she inhabited, her only guide a lantern, its' glow becoming a lone light in a wide ocean devoid of bioluminescence. 

This unrelenting nix that swung through the forest as if it were all she had ever known (and frankly, it was) was simply known as Jade. It was her, now, who raised her lantern up defiantly to the silhouettes haunting her sight, and growled faintly at the way the shadows swayed and grew under the light. It just ever so faintly illuminated the furthest ring of her vision, pouring its' surrogate sunlight into every niche and crevasse, shining off of the thick exoskeleton of a sleeping beetle and smoothing over the harsh, wiry bark of the endless canopy-made-arbor. The lone girl clenched hard to the light's handle, setting it very carefully down on the nearest tree root, which had been thickened by time until it was wide enough to sit on, and evidently by the smoothness of its' bark, many a time had been, while at the same time swinging a huge oblong object over her back from where it had been strapped and into her hands, preparing vividly for battle. 

"Come out, already! I know you're here! You wolf-cat-marten thing! I hear you running around every night, I know you come up to the house, too! I know it!" She rumbled at the mysterious shadows, heart racing, fingers light on the trigger of her Remington, hoping to _dear god_ that her Grandpa's advice of "Always carry a rifle with you at all times!" would finally help her. Maybe her search through the woods had been fruitless so far, but now she was determined. She'd find the creature tonight, no matter what. Her hand slickly slid down the barrel and she steadied her aim, waiting, wise, knowing that whatever had been terrorizing her, keeping her up at night and relentlessly visiting her at each moon's ascent, would return through this copse and that this time, oh _yes_ , it would find _her._  

Suddenly, sound. Movement. A sensation pulse that shook her nerves to dust with the most tender of noises echoing out from behind her. It started with the sound of clumsy limbs breaking over forest floor, snapping long forlorn branches carelessly and culminating in  kicking out at the wide leaves of burdock obscuring the wild shadow's path. Jade whipped around, gun raised to shoulder, and crouched low to the ground, breathing ash and wood from the forest as her heart sent out a wild symphony to quake through her. 

That's all it took. Then it was there, and then not, and it looked ever so vaguely like a human, but god it was not, it ran and stumbled and moved with foreign grace, and Jade hadn't even swerved around with gun in hand before it was gone, blending into the night like it was some sort of cairo overcoat. Jade openly snarled in vexation, a sound that pulled to her surface before she even knew what intense fury was imbued there. _She would NOT be bested by a mere marten-wolf-animal— whatever the fuck it was!_

She sprung up from her place nestled against the earth, and took off after the thing, holding her gun in a tight embrace and leaving her lantern far behind, furiously intent on nothing less than a wild pursuit. Her feet thundered over the hard terra, foliage and newly grown ferns just collateral damage in her hunt. Soon, but very gradually, the soil began to smooth and soften underfoot, until she reached a breaking point and it splayed wildly under the pound of her heel, and Jade realized with horror that she'd finally reached the island's shore. The ocean stretched out its' mouth for forever in front of her, one endless horizontal wall of no return that was lapping hungrily at the shore with some kind of fervor that had always made her nervous ever since she was small. It was some endless god that was unstoppable by either time or force, and it scared her. It scared her a lot.

But there her target was. Crouched next to the tide pools, approaching the very edge of the water. _It could swim?_ Jade thought with a drenching horror. Then, quickly; _It will not escape._ She raised her Remington again, and shoved the lucratively built thing into the space under her shoulder, working it against a lean muscle in her chest. She kept one arm straight out as she leaned into the gun, nearly pressing into the scope as she alighted aim on the monster down below. Her finger tightened on the thin, metallic trigger separating the space between life and death, and she only stopped to breathe. In. Out. 

The creature raised itself in one movement, and made as if to dive into the ocean, but hesitated at the last second, and as its' silhouette turned back towards the shoreline, holding something large and white (was it _moving?_ ) to her chest, almost facing directly where she waited, gun ready, and she had mere _seconds_ , but it was enough of a _bonne chance,_ so Jade seized it with all her might.

"Gotcha." She whispered, one syllable, one breath, one terrorizing word that translated everything it needed to at once and sent a little shiver through the small of her spine even though all its' power belonged to her. But it was final in execution; there was nothing more to say. Her finger threw back the trigger, hard.  

 **BANG**. A .30 millimeter cartridge ripped out of the barrel at top speed, sending a kick of shock through her chest that rippled and absorbed into her in seconds, and shot through the air with the ferocity of a bullet train, entering flesh and tearing it like tissue paper, exploding shrapnel as it left it again as it went, spiraling into the earth again as loose pieces of brass, copper, and steel. And just like that it had breathed the creature's skin. In. Out.

It went down. And didn't move. Jade screamed excitement, and ran to her prey, proud, a hunter, and at last she'd done something to make her Grandpa proud. She was across the beach in a seconds, feet flying over the loose grains, up and over a foothill, and she was over a rocky tide pool and into the very edge between ocean and earth and stepping ever so carelessly, too excited, too invigorated.

And her feet touched over something slick and wet and she looked down, belatedly, and the tide pools had all run crimson, with all the little starfish and anemones painted up the sides by the ugly color. Jade crinkled her nose at the sight. And she turned away, from the carnage wrecked on the little ecosystem, and she was suddenly tête à tête to the pain she'd wrought, innocence a dying word on her lips.

The skinny body of a girl about her age lay on the edge of the sand, wrapped in thin scarves and and skirts that couldn't possibly keep her warm at night by any stretch of the imagination. Jade felt her whole body tremble and quake, and she dropped to her knees, tenderly rolling the chest of her into her arms, letting the blood on the rocks stain her every fabric like war paint. That made her bark a really ugly laugh. 

At the sound, the girl's eyes opened, fluttered, and she watched her from between her long eyelashes, breath heaving from under her ribs like a work of art. Jade couldn't breathe for a long moment at first, then finally, words bubbled and popped, so stupid and unstoppable.

"Who are you? What are you?" It was only a murmur, but so desperate, all the same. She touched the cheek of the girl, a pallor that was so soft and grey compared to hers, shimmering and shining like she had millions of tiny, tiny scales. She smiled, so weakly, too. It was pathetic. 

"I'm Fef." She whispered. Her voice was beautiful, more beautiful than anything Jade had ever known, like a thousand crescendoes played by a thousand _carillons_ in perfect harmony. 

"I'm Fef," she repeated, so feebly it was sad. "I'm a mermaid." She giggled, but her laugh was rough at the end and god did it make her ache. She ducked a little closer, held her a little tighter, and pulled her upright.

"Why were you here?" Jade whispered, barely audible. Fef gave a little smile, and these little teeth poked out, sharp like a kitten's, and it was too much.

"I come visit you every night. You looked so lonely in that house, in the tower. All by your own. I thought you needed a friend." Jade looked at her with horror. _She just wanted to be my friend? And I_ ** _shot_** _her? What kind of horrible monster am I?_

"I'm so sorry—" She began, biting tears back, but she was cut off by another hard laugh.

"For what? You only shot a poor gull I was trying to help get unstuck from a rock." Jade looked down. The poor bird lay, drained, spirit gone, but body now rested. Some wild mixture of horror and relief and anger and terror drained out of her and she looked down again at the mysterious girl laying in her arms.

"You played me!" She almost screamed, furious. But relieved.

"You almost shot me!" She was so indignant, but there was so much laughter in her voice. Jade made a feral growl noise in the back of her throat, and Fef tossed her head and laughed free, wild, relievedly. Then suddenly, Jade swept her other arm under the girl's legs, and raised her completely into the air in one swoop, and she screeched with horror, which made Jade laugh, too, one hard, loud bark of a laugh. And Fef screeched indignantly, "Put me down!" and Jade hummed happily, ignoring her.

"There's no way you'll survive another night out here! You're coming to my house immediately!" She cried. And she threw back her head and laughed, real, true. _I'm sorry, Granpa,_ she thought inwardly _, I guess I'm a lousy hunter after all._


End file.
